The Union College mena??s ice hockey team practice at Webster Bank Arena, in Bridgeport, Conn. March 27, 2014. Union will play Vermont Friday in the first game of the Eastern Regional NCAA Tournament, in Bridgeport. Ned Gerard / Connecticut Post less

The Union College mena??s ice hockey team practice at Webster Bank Arena, in Bridgeport, Conn. March 27, 2014. Union will play Vermont Friday in the first game of the Eastern Regional NCAA Tournament, in ... more

Photo: Ned Gerard

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The Union College mena??s ice hockey team practice at Webster Bank Arena, in Bridgeport, Conn. March 27, 2014. Union will play Vermont Friday in the first game of the Eastern Regional NCAA Tournament, in Bridgeport. Ned Gerard / Connecticut Post less

The Union College mena??s ice hockey team practice at Webster Bank Arena, in Bridgeport, Conn. March 27, 2014. Union will play Vermont Friday in the first game of the Eastern Regional NCAA Tournament, in ... more

Photo: Ned Gerard

Image 3 of 9

The Union College mena??s ice hockey team practice at Webster Bank Arena, in Bridgeport, Conn. March 27, 2014. Union will play Vermont Friday in the first game of the Eastern Regional NCAA Tournament, in Bridgeport. Ned Gerard / Connecticut Post less

The Union College mena??s ice hockey team practice at Webster Bank Arena, in Bridgeport, Conn. March 27, 2014. Union will play Vermont Friday in the first game of the Eastern Regional NCAA Tournament, in ... more

Photo: Ned Gerard

Image 4 of 9

The Union College mena??s ice hockey team practice at Webster Bank Arena, in Bridgeport, Conn. March 27, 2014. Union will play Vermont Friday in the first game of the Eastern Regional NCAA Tournament, in Bridgeport. Ned Gerard / Connecticut Post less

The Union College mena??s ice hockey team practice at Webster Bank Arena, in Bridgeport, Conn. March 27, 2014. Union will play Vermont Friday in the first game of the Eastern Regional NCAA Tournament, in ... more

The Union College mens ice hockey team practices at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Conn. Thursday, March 27, 2014. No. 1 Union will play No. 4 Vermont in an Eastern Regional NCAA match on Friday in ... more

The Union College mens ice hockey team practices at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Conn. Thursday, March 27, 2014. No. 1 Union will play No. 4 Vermont in an Eastern Regional NCAA match on Friday in ... more

Photo: Ned Gerard

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It's not the way they were

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Bridgeport, Conn.

The Union College hockey team is ranked No. 1 in the country, a status unimaginable when Kevin Sneddon was the Dutchmen head coach from 1998 to 2003.

"I think we were No. 1 on Nott Street one weekend," Sneddon said jokingly, referring to a road that borders one end of the Schenectady campus.

Union went 50-99-18 during Sneddon's tenure. The Dutchmen actually improved their record in each of his last four seasons, a real accomplishment at the time, which Sneddon parlayed into the Vermont job.

The program he'll face on Friday bears no resemblance to the one he left 11 years ago.

The Dutchmen, atop the poll for the first time in program history, face Sneddon's Catamounts in an East Regional semifinal at 2 p.m. in Webster Bank Arena.

More Information

NCAA hockey tournament East Regional semifinal

Union (28-6-4) vs. Vermont (20-14-3)

When: 2 p.m. Friday

Where: Webster Bank Arena, Bridgeport, Conn.

TV/radio: ESPNU/1240 AM

Five things about Vermont

1. The Catamounts are making the sixth NCAA Tournament appearance in program history. They've reached the Frozen Four twice, in 1996 and 2009.

2. Freshman Mario Puskarich is the first Catamount to win Hockey East Rookie of the Year. He ranks fourth in the nation in rookie scoring with 35 points.

3. Vermont is eighth in the country in team defense with a 2.27 goals-against average and is allowing just 1.88 over its past eight games.

4. Vermont's penalty kill ranks seventh in the country at 85.8 percent.

5. The Catamounts' last win over the No. 1 team in the nation, a position Union currently holds, came on Oct. 10, 2009 with an upset of Denver on the road.

"It's just amazing," Sneddon said. "It really is amazing."

Sneddon acknowledged he didn't think more than a decade ago that Union could reach these heights.

"If you asked me back then if I ever thought Union would be a three-peat champion of the ECAC and get to the (2012) Frozen Four and doing all those kinds of things, I probably wouldn't have guessed that,'' he said.

However, Sneddon has been through the nostalgia of facing his former team. He is 4-1 against Union in the regular season. Most recently, Vermont beat the Dutchmen 2-1 at the 2012 Catamount Cup in Burlington.

"It's fun to see a lot of familiar faces here ... but when the puck drops on Friday night, we're ready to battle and those kind of personal feelings go out the window," Sneddon said.

Current Union coach Rick Bennett never worked under Sneddon at Union but said he owes a debt to his predecessor.

"Kevin's a tremendous coach and everybody knows on Union's campus who Kevin Sneddon was," Bennett said. "He's one of the pioneer coaches of the program and that can never go without notice. I want to acknowledge that. That's pretty special. For guys like me, he helped pave the way."

It was a very bumpy path for Sneddon, who didn't receive nearly as much institutional support as the program does now, according to the man who replaced him.

Providence head coach Nate Leaman, who guided Union from 2003 to 2011, is also in Bridgeport this week in a regional with a strong Union flavor. The Friars will meet Quinnipiac in Friday's other semifinal.

Leaman praised Sneddon for starting the Garnet Blades, the alumni fundraising group that pumped sorely needed money into the hockey program.

"Because at the time, the program was really kind of left out for dead for Kevin, to be honest," Leaman said. "I mean, you had a college president (Roger Hull) that didn't really understand athletics at all. And you had a really poor budget. So Kevin did the one thing he could do to try to keep it alive. He got the alumni involved and he got the fundraising involved. He laid some good groundwork for me to come in and build a staff."

Leaman also recruited better players and got the Dutchmen to their first NCAA Tournament in 2010. After Leaman departed for Providence, Bennett took over and raised the program to new heights.

Union is chasing its first national title. Sneddon, who still has fond feelings for the college, is in the way.

"That was where I got my coaching debut, so I'm certainly very appreciative of that opportunity that I had there," Sneddon said. "It's been a lot of fun to see the growth of the program under Nate (Leaman) and certainly under Rick."